Washington: The US Justice Department on Monday released thousands of records related to the sex trafficking investigation into disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein that allegedly included wide-ranging references to US President Donald Trump, The Washington Post reported.
According to Anadolu Agency, the documents, which came three days after the first release of Epstein files, were available for several hours but were taken down Monday evening, following a similar pattern from last Friday's release of data.
Monday's files included notes from an assistant US attorney in New York about the number of flights Trump took on Epstein's plane, years before his first presidency in 2017, and several FBI tips about his involvement with Epstein and parties at their properties in the early 2000s.
Under a law signed by US President Trump last month, the Justice Department file on Epstein was due to be released in full last Friday. Lawmakers and advocates for Epstein's victims have criticized the piecemeal release that was offered instead and threatened to take legal action to force full disclosure.
In January 2020, an assistant US attorney in the Southern District of New York wrote an internal email about a review of flight records as part of the case against Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein's convicted accomplice in sex trafficking. The email revealed that Donald Trump traveled on Epstein's private jet many more times than previously reported. According to the prosecutor's files, Trump was on at least eight flights, with Maxwell also present on at least four of them.
Recently released documents show that a subpoena was sent to Mar-a-Lago, Trump's resort in Florida, in 2021 for records linked to the government's case against Maxwell. The assistant U.S. attorneys were looking for past employment records relevant to the case, but officials of the club said they did not have the records from 1999 to 2001 that federal agents were seeking.
Correspondence between prison officials included in the files outlined psychological assessments of Epstein, who was found dead of suicide in a New York jail cell in 2019. Authorities had planned to house Epstein with Cesar Sayoc, a supporter of Trump, about two weeks before his death.
Other documents included objections by Epstein's victims after Alex Acosta, then-US attorney in Miami, reached an agreement in 2008 not to prosecute Epstein on federal charges in return for his pleading guilty to less-serious state charges of soliciting prostitution from a minor. Acosta later served as the US labor secretary under the first Trump administration.
The files also contain a 22-page memo requesting an interview with then-Prince Andrew, now Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, concerning his connection to Epstein. Epstein was found dead in his New York City jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges, maintaining a controversial figure due to his ties with political and elite figures.
Trump has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing related to Epstein, and the case remains a politically charged issue in the US, with demands for greater transparency about Epstein's network and associates.